


Slow Country

by milkday



Category: Mumintroll | Moomins Series - Tove Jansson
Genre: also tho i use he/him prns snuf is nonbinary, and i don't actually pay attention to the moomin fandom so idk if this lines up w Fanon but, i wrote this in like.. 2016 i think, sniff is kind of a dumbass, we'll see
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-22
Updated: 2019-08-22
Packaged: 2020-09-24 07:50:11
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 680
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20354953
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/milkday/pseuds/milkday
Summary: Snufkin didn’t know where to start his search. What if they weren’t even in Moominvalley? What if- what if- what if? He was unused to the cloud of thoughts swarming in his head like angry wasps, and the fear that if he did meet his parents- well, what if they abandoned him for a reason?Sometimes you need to go looking for the truth, even if you're not sure you want to find it.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> The title has no real meaning, I was just listening to Gorillaz when I found this in my WIP folder. Although "can't stand your loneliness" is very Snufkin. I only have two chapters written because I started this a veeeery long time ago, but I'm planning on finishing this. Eventually.

_ A sudden gust of wind rattled the windows. _

_   
_ _ "To be out at sea on a night like this..." said Moominpappa, abstractedly. _

_   
_ _ "What about my daddy?" Snufkin asked. "The Joxter? What became of him? And of mother?" _

* * *

Moominpappa looked uncertain, suddenly. “Your… daddy?” 

  
“What became of him? Where’s my mother?” He was getting impatient now, tugging on his old hat eagerly. He always assumed he was an orphan and now there was  _ family!  _ He’d always had the Moomin family of course but- but this was  _ different. _

“Your mother… and The Joxter? Well…”

You could’ve cut the tension in the room with a knife. Snufkin and Moomin (and even Sniff!) hung onto Moominpappa’s every word with bated breath. 

“I, ah, don’t know.” 

Snufkin’s pipe clattered to the ground. “You don’t- you don’t  _ know? _ Are they dead? Did they ever look for me?”

Moominmamma put a hand on the boy’s shoulder, gently. “I’m sure they looked high and low for you, dear.”

“How can you be sure? How do you know? Perhaps they never even noticed I had gone!” He stood up suddenly, shaking Moominmamma’s hand away. Nobody had ever seen Snufkin this agitated, and to be quite honest it was frightening them a little.

“Maybe they’ll come here, one day?” Moomin said, carefully. But he knew that Moominvalley wasn’t so big, and if Snufkin’s parents- in all those years he’d been gone- hadn’t stumbled across Moominhouse yet, then they weren’t likely to. He kept quiet on that point though, in fear of upsetting Snufkin further.

“That’s unlikely,” said Sniff, putting his foot in it. “Moominhouse is big and you can see it for  _ miles.  _ So they’re probably just-” 

“I know. I  _ know  _ they’re not looking. So I’ll find them myself.” With that, he pulled his hat down over his ears, swept his pipe into his coat pocket, and departed without another word.

“He’ll be back,” Moominmamma said placidly. “He always is.”

“Probably in time for dinner- nobody can resist your cooking, dear.” 

  
It turned out that Moominpappa was utterly wrong on that front.


	2. These Boots are Made For Walking (And That's Just What They'll Do)

Snufkin didn’t know where to start his search. What if they weren’t even in Moominvalley? What if- what if-  _ what if?  _ He was unused to the cloud of thoughts swarming in his head like angry wasps, and the fear that if he  _ did  _ meet his parents- well, what if they abandoned him for a reason? 

He decided a good course of action would be to start by heading towards the Lonely Mountains, and if he still didn’t find his parents, he’d loop back and head over the ocean. Filled with determination, Snufkin tugged on his hat for luck and stepped off the verandah and into the wide world. 

***

He soon regretted leaving on the spur of the moment. The wind chilled his bones and he could’ve done with a can of Moominmamma’s famed home-made tomato soup for his dinner but he supposed that was the cost of the life of an adventurer. At least he had his knapsack with him, not that he ever took it off (he’d made that mistake once before in the orphanage and had to fight to get it back, which was the first and only time he’d ever fought and he wasn’t intending to change  _ that _ anytime soon.)

The sun was going down, and yet it felt like Snufkin had gotten nowhere. He was freezing cold, he hadn’t managed to catch a single fish for dinner, and it felt like the forest was swallowing him whole. Still, he supposed he could be worse off. There had been no nasty encounters with anyone yet- he hadn’t met a single hemulen, policeman, or Groke for the whole time he’d been walking. But then again, maybe finding someone would be a good first step. There  _ had  _ to be someone around who knew his parents, surely. 

As the moon replaced the sun in the sky, he started to set up camp. He was lacking a tent- yet another downside to leaving so quickly- but he’d just have to brave the elements and hope it didn’t rain too hard.


End file.
